1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to microwave ovens, and more particularly, to a microwave oven having a control panel which is provided at a front wall of the oven and divided into upper and lower panel parts. The upper and lower panel parts are selected from a plurality of pre-manufactured upper and lower panel parts having a variety of appearances, thus providing for a microwaves oven having a customizable control panel.
2. Description of the Related Art
Generally, a microwave oven is an electrically operated oven which heats and/or cooks food laid in its cooking cavity by using high-frequency electromagnetic waves generated by an oscillation of a magnetron installed in a machine room. That is, during an operation of the microwave oven, the magnetron inside the machine room of the microwave oven radiates the high-frequency electromagnetic waves, so-called “microwaves,” throughout the cooking cavity. The microwaves penetrate the food so as to repeatedly change a molecular arrangement of moisture existing in the food, thus causing the molecules of the moisture to vibrate and generate a frictional heat to cook the food.
FIG. 1 shows an exploded perspective view of a microwave oven having a conventional control panel. As shown in the drawing, the microwave oven comprises a housing 10, with a cooking cavity 11 defined inside the housing 10 and used to cook food therein. A machine room 12 is also defined inside the housing 10 and receives a variety of devices used to generate microwaves, which are transmitted into the cooking cavity 11 to heat and cook the food. The housing 10 is open at a top and at both sides thereof, and the open top and open sides of the housing 10 are covered with an outer casing 20. A door 25 is hinged to a front wall 13 of the housing 10 so as to open or close the cooking cavity 11. A control panel 30 is provided at the front wall 13 of the housing 10 at a position adjacent to the door 25, and allows a user to control the operation of the microwave oven.
The housing 10 comprises the front wall 13, a rear wall 14 and an inner casing 15 arranged between the front and rear walls 13 and 14 so as to define the cooking cavity 11.
The machine room 12 includes a plurality of devices, such as a magnetron 16, a high-tension transformer 17 and a high-tension condenser 18, to generate the microwaves which are transmitted into the cooking cavity 11 to heat and cook the food therein.
The outer casing 20 covers the open top and open sides of the housing 10 to establish an appearance of the microwave oven. The outer casing 20 comprises one top wall 21 and two sidewalls 22 and 23. The front wall 13 of the housing 10 has first and second openings 13a and 13b. The first opening 13a is opened or closed using the door 25, while the second opening 13b allows a rear surface of the control panel 30 to communicate with the interior of the machine room 12.
A front surface of the control panel 30 comprises upper and lower portion, which respectively house a display unit 31 and a manipulation unit 32. The upper and lower portions are integrated with each other and form a single structure. The display unit 31 informs a user of cooking information, while the manipulation unit 32 has a plurality of control buttons which allow a user to select a desired cooking mode and a desired cooking time. A PCB (Printed Circuit Board, not shown) is provided on the rear surface of the control panel 30 to control the operation of the microwave oven in response to input signals transmitted from the manipulation unit 32, thus allowing the microwave oven to perform a selected cooking mode.
However, in the conventional microwave oven, the display unit 31 and the manipulation unit 32 are respectively arranged in a single control panel 30, at upper and lower portions of the control panel 30, which is in a form of a single structure. Accordingly, the appearances of the conventional control panel 30 are limited in designs, and do not meet the requirements of consumers who desire to have microwave ovens with variously designed control panels.
That is, since the upper and lower portions of the conventional microwave oven, which respectively house the display unit 31 and the manipulation unit 32, are integrally formed on a front surface of the single control panel 30, and consumers may desire to purchase microwave ovens with variously designed control panels, it is necessary for a manufacturer of microwave ovens to design an excessive number of control panels having different appearances. However, it is almost impossible for a manufacturer to design such an excessive number of control panels having different appearances. Therefore, conventional microwave ovens do not meet the market demands of the consumers.
Accordingly, microwave ovens having such a control panel with integrated display and manipulation units have poor market competitiveness, as most consumers prefer products with special designs or customizable designs over generic and limited factory designs.